My Five for Fighting Texas Adventure, Day One

So, a couple of weeks ago, I took a little trip to Texas...my first to that state.  Back in March, I found out John Ondrasik...better known as Five for Fighting...would be doing a mini-tour of Texas with his string quartet. Normally, I wouldn't even consider traveling that far for a concert, and I've passed on many other Five for Fighting shows that are equally as far away. Then, I realized one particular show being held at Enoch's Stomp Vineyard and Winery would fall on my four days off from work. That in itself was extremely tempting, considering his brother-in-law...his sister's husband...co-owns the winery. What pretty much sealed the deal was the fact I had an Alaska Airlines $300 credit that I needed to use by the end of the year. This would be the perfect time to use it! Of course, I still needed to consider hotel reservations and a rental car, but that wasn't enough to stop me...I was going!

Making my airline reservation so far in advance, I was able to score a pretty cheap ticket. Minus the $300 credit, I was out of pocket only $47.  I quickly contacted my Twitter friend and fellow Five for Fighting admirer Tonja of my Texas trip. She lives just east of Houston and enthusiastically made plans to attend the show, too.  We had never met before and were mutually excited to finally do so.  It had been three years since I last saw John perform, and this concert was long overdue.  I know John pretty well and decided it would be cool to surprise him and show up at this event.

I left Bellingham, WA on a 6:00 am flight, then caught a connector in Portland, OR on my way to Dallas-Fort Worth airport.  As we left the Pacific Northwest, I said goodbye to cool temps and green vistas.  Here's a shot of three majestic peaks, Mount Hood in Oregon, and Mount Adams and Mount Rainier in Washington.  Three hours later, I got my first view of the more arid flatlands of west Texas. 

When it came time to pick up my rental car, there was initially a minor delay when they couldn't find a premium car with satellite radio. But, after conferring with his supervisor, the rental car guy gave me the good news...I was getting a free upgrade to a Infiniti Q50!  Woo hoo! That made my drive to Longview SO MUCH better, even after getting stuck in traffic getting out of Dallas and arriving at my destination an hour later than expected. 

After checking into my hotel and freshening up, I met Tonja and her family for dinner at a local BBQ place. It was wonderful to finally meet Tonja, as well as her husband Todd and son Ian.  Really nice people!  So, that was how Day One of my Texas Adventure went.  A good start, I would say!  I was looking forward to tomorrow and the big Five for Fighting concert at Enoch's Stomp!